27th Aug 2015 15:06
LONDON (Alliance News) - Bwin.Party Digital Entertainment PLC on Thursday said the key aspects of GVC Holdings PLC's bid for the company have now been addressed, adding a further twist to the takeover saga centring on the FTSE 250 online gaming company.
On Monday, GVC said it had made a fully-funded proposal to acquire Bwin.Party and derail the latter's agreed takeover by 888 Holdings PLC. The pair were working through the remaining issues of GVC's bid, and Bwin.Party said Thursday that process has now been completed.
It has now asked GVC to clarify the best terms on which it is prepared to make an offer to acquire Bwin.Party's shares and be issued shares in the company.
Bwin.Party said there remains no certainty an offer will be made by GVC and said its agreement with 888 remains unaffected by the talks with GVC.
Later Thursday, 888 said that it noted the announcement made by Bwin.Party but said it "continues to believe that the combination of the 888 and bwin.party businesses announced on July 17 under the 888 management team would generate significant value for both sets of shareholders".
888 made a GBP898.3 million offer for Bwin.Party in July comprising 39.45 pence in cash and 0.404 of a new 888 share per Bwin.Party share, valuing Bwin.Party shares at 104.09p. Bwin.Party initially agreed to go with the offer.
GVC's latest offer was 25p per share in cash and 0.231 of a GVC share for every Bwin.Party share, valuing them at around 124p each, or around GBP1.02 billion for the company in total.
Bwin.Party shares were up 1.1% to 114.90 pence on Thursday afternoon, while GVC shares were up 3.0% to 435.00p. 888 was up 3.9% at 161.50p.
By Sam Unsted; [email protected]; @SamUAtAlliance
Copyright 2015 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
Related Shares:
GVC.L888.LBPTY.L